HR: 16:00h
AN: H14A-01 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: Optimizing water purchases for an Environmental Water Account
AU: * Lund, J R
EM: jrlund@ucdavis.edu
AF: University of California - Davis, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Davis, CA 95616 United States
AU: Hollinshead, S P
H14A-01 AF: Columbia University, Law School, New York, NY 11111 United States
AB: State and federal agencies in California have established an Environmental Water Account (EWA) to buy water to protect endangered fish in the San Francisco Bay/ Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary. This paper presents a three-stage probabilistic optimization model that identifies least-cost strategies for purchasing water for the EWA given hydrologic, operational, and biological uncertainties. This approach minimizes the expected cost of long-term, spot, and option water purchases to meet uncertain flow dedications for fish. The model prescribes the location, timing, and type of optimal water purchases and can illustrate how least-cost strategies change with hydrologic, operational, biological, and cost inputs. Details of the optimization model's application to California's EWA are provided with a discussion of its utility for strategic planning and policy purposes. Limitations in and sensitivity analysis of the model's representation of EWA operations are discussed, as are operational and research recommendations.
DE: 1884 Water supply
DE: 6309 Decision making under uncertainty
DE: 6334 Regional planning (1880)
DE: 6344 System operation and management
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005